Set up by the European Janucz Korczak Academy, a Munich-based educational organisation, Rent-a-Jew seeks to counter anti-Semitism by sending ordinary Jewish people into German schools, colleges and universities to speak about their lives and experiences, and to dispel myths about Jews.
The initiative has been launched against a backdrop of rising anti-Semitism. According to Deutsche Welle, 2015 saw a 34 per cent increase in reported anti-Jewish incidents from a year earlier.
The Rent-a-Jew website elaborates: “For hundreds of years, anti-Semites have claimed that Jews are less valuable than other people. We are tired of hearing such assignments. And we believe that humor mixed with a bit of chutzpah is the best way to refute old stereotypes and prejudices and show how absurd they are.
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